Readers skeptical of take-home sheriff cars

In response to

Whose SWAT was it?

The number of Sheriff's Department take-home vehicles has increased from 582 to 617 since 2011. Sheriff Gore remarked, “I know this is looked at as a benefit or a perk, but the hostage negotiator who’s called out at 3 or 4 in the morning doesn’t quite look at it that way.” It would be interesting to know how many times the hostage negotiator has been called out after hours, how many hostage negotiators are trained, whether they provide 24/7 coverage, and whether they are paid overtime when they are called out after hours, or change their shift and clock regular time. The sheriff also notes that a San Diego officer driving a take-home car, and who had his tactical gear with him, was one of the first officers on the scene last September when two sheriff’s deputies were shot in Lakeside. That officer was a San Diego police department SWAT officer, not a member of the sheriff’s alternative custody unit (which monitors former inmates) or the analysis-driven law enforcement team (which investigates cyber crimes).

Steven Kean

Chula Vista

Who's closer?

I would ask Sheriff Gore to advise the taxpayers of San Diego County how many times in the past year the 90 employees who reside in Imperial, Riverside, or Orange counties were called out in emergency situations that required the use of county vehicles.

In most emergency situations arising within San Diego County, wouldn't employees residing within the county generally be closer to an emergency situation than would a Sheriff's Department employee residing outside our boundaries?